Pure Instinct
by Lil-Green-Leprechaun
Summary: In a world thats being taken over by the living dead, everyone needs someone, even if they don't know it yet. DarylXOC
1. First meetings

**Hello all! This is my first Walking Dead story, so be gentle with me and let me know you're thoughts. This is only an ntroduction to my character if it seems a tad vauge, I promise you she will get better. This is a Daryl X OC story because I think Norman Reedus as Daryl Dixon is just pure genius! Please let me know what you think and enjoy!**

Isabella Grey knelt behind a broken counter, a long, white marble handled hunting knife gripped tightly in her hand ready to attack if a walker happened upon her hiding place. Her ears pricked up, catching footsteps running up the metal stairs from the floor above her the roof, _'That's too fast for walkers.'_ she whispered to herself creeping out into the trashed shop, her black clad body kept low to the ground. Edging her way as noiselessly as she could out of the door, she too gripped the metal bannister of the stairs and hurled herself up the steps to the roof where a bright shaft of warm sunlight led her to the outside world. Stopping at the open entrance she squinted against the harsh brightness, a faint cry escaped her lips and she fell to her knees in a mix between exhaustion and relief as she took in the sight of four living people stood talking across the other side of the roof.

* * *

><p>"Noooo! No! No! No!" Shouted the sandy haired hill-billy, as he watched the now empty handcuffs swaying in the light Georgian summer breeze. "You, you son of a bitch! this is your fault." he shouted lunging towards the hefty black man who looked sheepishly at the floor, the blond's crossbow being held mere centimetres from his nose, the tall dark haired policeman immediately reacted to the scuffle and held a silver pistol to the offending man's head. "I won't hesitate." He warned, pulling back the hammer and sliding the safety ketch off. The young Korean who was stood a safe distance from the arguing men, narrowed his eyes towards the open doorway where the figure of a woman lay propped up against the white washed wall, her pale face streaked with blood and tears, and her long dark curls escaping from her bun in all angles. "Uh, guys ..." he whispered, trying to attracted the rowing trio's attention, "Hey!" he tried, a little louder, but still received no response, "Guys, we aren't alone ..." The cop dropped the gun from his companion's head and swung it around scanning the area, "A walker? Where Glen?" Glen sighed and removed his hat, running a hand through his thick black hair, "She's not a walker... over there by the door."<p>

Swiftly holstering his weapon the police officer, ran to the collapsed woman, shortly being followed by Glen and T-dog while the blond red neck stayed behind a few minutes wrapping the hand in a blue bandanna. "You …" the young woman breathed, her big dark eyes searching the faces of the three men surrounding her, "you're alive." the officer chuckled and nodded, "We are, I'm Rick. Rick Grimes" he indicated to the Asian to his right, "Glen" Glen smiled and raised his hand in a tiny wave, "And this here is T-Dog." he finished indicating to his right. The girl nodded and looked over his shoulder, her eyes glued to the blond as he crouched low to the ground examining a blood trail, feeling her gaze on him, he turned his head to look at her and straightened up to his full height, his long fingers tensing on the handle of his crossbow, "The fuck you staring at?" he shouted making her raise her eyebrows in surprise and turn her attention back to Rick who grimaced "And _that_ is Daryl Dixon." She pursed her lips and nodded holding her hand out for Rick in a friendly gesture that he readily accepted, "I'm Isabella Grey."

"Are we going to look for Merle or what?" Daryl shouted over at the collection of people, _just another fucking damsel in distress that needs her ass saving_ he thought to himself as he watched Rick pull the small woman to her feet, and advance towards him with the others close behind. "He must have used a tourniquet, his belt in my guess, or he'd have lost too much blood." Daryl continued, as he led the group along a splattered blood trail on the concrete, the one he had been studying before they joined him. The blood led into what looked like a locker room, nodding his head at the others, Daryl raised his crossbow and entered the room, his eyes and ears alert for any sign of the restless undead. "Merle! You in here?" he shouted as they wound their way down the steps, the metal was slick underfoot and Isabella felt herself sliding, a short exclamation of "oh!" escaping her lips as she felt a strong muscled hand grip the back of her black trousers, hoisting her back up with ease, "Watch yourself little girl." The Hick warned, as he fell back into the front of the precession, "Toughest ass hole I've ever known my brother," he mumbled kicking the two dead zombies as he walked past, "Feed him a hammer and he's crap nails."

"Any man can pass out from blood loss, no matter how tough he is." Rick said, concentrating as the group entered another room.

What looked like a kitchen stretched out before them, broken and open fridges, scattered pans and a still connected hob made up the dismal room. "What's the burned stuff on that paddle?" Glen asked, pointing out a blood covered piece of metal. Isabella moved closer and sniffed what was left of the burnt sludge, recoiling instantly at the smell, "Its skin, your brother, Merle is it … well he must have quortorised his stump, to stop the bleeding." Daryl looked at her properly for the first time, her pretty face held a beaten down look, with purplish bags under her eyes from lack of sleep, but even with the imperfections, she was the prettiest girl Daryl had seen in a long time, he nodded at her and made his way into another room, "How'd you know that anyway? You a nurse?" he asked as he bent to inspect a big hole in a glass window, "He must have got out through here, he's out there, surviving." T-Dog let out a barking laugh, "You call that surviving? Out there in the streets? Nearly passing out?" Daryl rounded on him, "No less than he had been thanks to you sorry bastards leaving him chained on that roof." Isabella sighed and moved between the fighting men, one hand on both their chests, "Now, I've been here about 5 minutes, and I can feel the anger you have because its family Daryl, but fighting will do you no good. If you want to find your brother you have to be methodical." both men looked at her, and sighed, moving away. "We need to get those guns and get out of here, the city isn't safe." said Rick watching the swarm of walkers milling about on the streets below. "Its suicide down there … we'll have to split up and be fast." Glen said thoughtfully as he scanned the streets for the bag of guns.

"Ok, Daryl and I will go down this alley here close to the guns, I'll grab the bag if Daryl covers my back. You, T-Dog and Isabella head to the left and in about 500 yards there's an alley that leads straight to the road where the van is, If you get in the van and pull round to the back of the mall, we can get to you there. Ok?" Glen looked at the figures around him as they all nodded in agreement, getting up and splitting off in their own directions.

"So uh, Daryl Dixon, is he always such a dick?" Isabella asked as they ran towards the road where they had parked their van, finding but empty roadway. "Where is it? Where's our Van?" Shouted T-dog as he placed his hands on his head in exasperation. "Merle." Rick exclaimed, "What do we do now? Hmm? We're screwed." The bigger man groaned.

A Small smile slipped onto Isabella's lips as she dug around in one of her pockets, her fingers grazing a set of car keys. "I have a plan..."


	2. What you looking at?

**Hello to my lovely readers! I'm really sorry this has taken so long, i completely forgot i'd started this story! so heres another chapter for you! some feedback would be great please? so i know whether to continue this story! all the best! xx**

Rick turned to look at the petite dark haired woman, "a plan?"

Isabella grinned pulling the small ring of keys from her jeans. "Yeah, but there's a tiny hitch, if she's still there, my ride is only ten mins that way … but she's out of gas, if we can fill her up, we can get out of here."

Rick dragged his hand across is lips and stubbly jaw in thought, "There are plenty of cars on the highway. Tanked up too I'll bet." he sighed heavily, "but that's a good mile out of here."

"Hmm, think you boys could run it? Fetch some gas and get my car going?" Isabella asked, as she handed the keys to Rick who tucked them into his belt.

"And what are you going to do?" T-Dog asked, his eyes never leaving her face.

She smiled and adjusted her jeans, getting ready to take off in the other direction, "I'll run back to Glenn and Daryl, tell them what's going on and help keep their asses covered. If you just meet us round the back of the mall, like originally planned." both men nodded and got ready to run, but stopped, seeing the smirk on her pretty face. "How're yo going to find my car when you don't know what it is?"

Rick nodded sheepishly and rubbed the nape of his neck, "uh good point." he chuckled.

"It's a black Porsche, English right hand drive and number plate ending in KXE. Its just inside the city, behind the garage and 7/11. got it?" Rick and T-Dog nodded and set off running towards the highway. "be careful" she yelled to them before turning back towards the mall, breaking into a run, her small feet barely making a noise on the hot asphalt.

XXXXXX

Isabella bent double breathing heavily against the concrete wall of the mall and wiped the thin layer of sweat from her forehead. "What the fuck you doin?" Drawled Daryl Dixon as he rounded the corner, facing the crouching girl, his crossbow loaded and raised into position at his shoulder. "Hidin' there, made me think you were a fucking walker!"

She looked up at the blond, her big brown eyes wide and staring intently into his own. "Well I'm not, so would you mind lowering that, I don't enjoy having things shoved into my face, unless I'm bought dinner and a movie first." her little comment earned a hearty laugh from Glenn who had just appeared behind Daryl, but the red neck's face remained stony, the crossbow still in its position.

"Am I wasting my breath? Didn't you hear me? I don't like having things pointed at me, so stop being an ass hole and lower your crossbow."

Daryl said nothing but huffed and pursed his lips, lowering the crossbow, keeping it close to his broad chest. Glenn edged closer and poked his head around the corner of the mesh door closing their alleyway off from the walker infested street.

"So what are you doing here? Where are Rick and T-Dog?" he asked taking off his baseball cap and running his hand uneasily through his thick black hair.

"We encountered a bit of a problem, when we got there your van was gone."

"The fuck you talkin' bout?" Daryl questioned, furrowing his brows and raising his voice. Isabella turned her head to look at him, her big dark eyes staring coldly right through his head.

"Exactly what I said, it was gone."

"What you mean gone? How could it be fucking gone?"

Isabella sighed and rolled her eyes, "I don't fucking know how its gone … its just gone."

"So we're stranded?" asked Glenn, trying to break the tension between his companions.

"No," she reassured, laying a dainty hand on his shoulder, "My car is parked a little way away, we can get back her, but I'm out of gas. Rick and T-Dog have gone to syphon some from the abandoned cars on the highway. They have my keys, they're going to fill her up, and pick us up here as planned." Glenn exhaled loudly with relief, a small smile on his lips.

"Well at least we've got a way out."

Isabella nodded, and peeked around the wall at the street full of walkers, "My car's only small but its still a way out, we'll just have to squash up."

"That's fine by me. At least its a way out of here." Glenn said, shifting his weight from one foot to the other uneasily.

Isabella looked between the two men, taking five minutes to study their features. Glenn, she thought was a little cutie, with his bright smile and button nose, Daryl on the other hand was manly, dirty and rugged, his jaw lined with a sandy goatee and his deep set blue eyes piercing. Her let her gaze glide down his body, taking in the sinuous muscles of his arms, that held a thin coating of zombie blood, dirt and sweat, his biceps clenching as he griped the crossbow to his chest. '_Mmm if only he was a bit less of a dick'_ she thought dragging her tongue across her lips unconsciously.

"The fuck you looking at?" Barked Daryl, breaking her out of her trance, looking back up into his clear blue eyes, she smiled a small smile, "I'm not entirely sure yet, but I'm sure I'll figure it out." he frowned at her comment, as if trying to process what she had just said

"So, did you get that bag of guns you were after?" she asked turning to Glenn. The Korean hung his head and looked at the ground,

"Some of em, I had to give away some of them and some ammo, so I could keep the rest and my life."

"Stupid fucking Chinaman" growled Daryl

"Leave off, Glenn did a good thing, at least he still has some of the guns, so stop your whining." she said, throwing a defensive arm around Glenn's shoulders, who smiled a little at the unexpected contact.

"What did you just fucking say to me?" Daryl said menacingly taking a step towards her, his handsome face twisted into a scowl.

"I told you to stop your fucking whining, didn't you hear me?" she said, standing her ground, keeping her arm, tightly around Glenn's shoulders.

Daryl's eyebrows rose in surprise at her boldness, he wasn't used to being answered back, especially by a jumped up little English bitch, '_even though'_, Daryl thought _'She is a hot jumped up little bitch' _as he took in her thick dark hair, escaping her bun in wispy spiral curls, her porcelain looking creamy skin, and her big dark brown eyes that seemed to pierce right through his.

"The main thing is you got out of there alive Glenn."

Glenn slightly and shuffled his feet nervously again, "Thanks"

"No problem, anyway, you are all so negative, look at the positive side, at least you have more guns to defend yourselves with that you didn't have this morning."

The Korean nodded and removed his cap once again to run his hand through his hair.

"I Guess we are, I think we have been through too much to accept something good just happening."

The petite brunette nodded removing her glasses and rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand, "Yeah, I guess that can happen." she placed her glasses back on her face and stretched, her stripy black and white top raising up her stomach and showing her belly button. Her eyes widened and her mouth opened in a shrill scream, as a walker latched its fingers into her hair, pulling her back and trying to bite at her neck. She pushed at the chest of the geek, staring up into its bloody and mangled face. Glenn had grabbed hold of the back of her black jeans and was trying to pull her back, shouting at Daryl to shoot the walker, and with a whistle an arrow sailed through the air embedding itself between the eyes of the attacking zombie.

"Oh My!" Isabella puffed as she fell backwards onto the ground at Daryl's feet. "Should watch your back lil girl." he growled striding forward and pulling the arrow from the walker's face.

Isabella just looked at Glenn and rolled her eyes.

The roar of a powerful engine hit their ears as a sleek black sports car rolled up at the back of the mall, as Rick rolled down the passenger window shouting "Get in! Quick!"


	3. Welcome to Camp Carnage

**Hello all you lovely readers! I just want to thank you all for reading, subscribing and alerting. means a lot to me! and thank you to all who pointed out my massive mistake in chaptering! ha! hope you all like this one! reviews would be good ... please? xx** **oh ... and if any of you would like to see what i picture Bella wearing through this story I have been playing around with my Polyvore account. so take a quick look! (.com/pure_instinct_mall_rescue_outfit/set?id=41359993) xx**

Without saying a word Daryl reached down offering Isabella a large, rough hand up, which she gladly accepted, hoisting herself back up to a standing position, before they both followed Glenn, who had already crammed himself into the tiny back seat. Isabella slid in next, the over heated leather burning her skin as her top rode up, exposing a section of her back. Daryl jumped in last, kicking a bloodied female walker in the face with his heavy boot, before slamming the door and slapping his hand on the back of Rick's seat.

"Fucking Drive, man!" He shouted as he turned, looking out the back window, his clear blue eyes narrowed as he watched the car advance quickly away from the small swarm of walkers that had congregated where their car had been just moments ago.

"Woo, now that was close!" exclaimed Glenn, with a cheeky grin as he visibly relaxed in his seat beside Isabella.

"Yes that was." she mumbled in agreement, running her shaking hands over her face and removing her glasses to wipe a few tears away from her big brown eyes. Sniffing loudly she quickly placed her glasses on and smiled at Rick, who had been watching her through the mirror, concern written all over his face. "You found my baby, though." she said running her fingers lovingly along the leather seats.

"Yeah we did without a problem, it uh, kind of sticks out as a car in Georgia, if you know what I mean."

Isabella laughed at Rick's comment, understanding exactly what he had meant, Georgia was a city of pick up trucks and Chevys and her tiny black sports car, stuck out like a sore thumb.

"So, uh, not being rude, but this is a pricey car … what did you do before the world ended?" Glenn asked, twisting his body into the car door to face her, and give Daryl, who was on the other side of her and looking painfully squished in the confines of the back seat , a little more space.

"Uh, I was a writer." She said, adjusting herself too, letting Daryl have a little more space, four pairs of eyes turned to her in interest. "I was on my way to see my agent. Which is why I was passing through Georgia. That and my Grandmother moved here with her new husband last year."

A few minutes of silence ensued, as the car raced along the highway towards the quarry.

"So, uh what kind of writing do you do?" Glenn asked as they pulled into the gravelly driveway of camp.

Isabella opened her mouth to reply but instead felt the urge to be sick, in front of her just through the line of trees, she could see the horrifying action in the camp.

"What?" Grunted Daryl as he studied her pretty face, noting the pale shade of her skin. With her mouth so dry it hurt to speak she rasped "Walkers" and pointed in the camps direction, as chaos ensued within the car.

All four men threw open their doors and hurled themselves out, each brandishing a weapon of some sort and ran towards the camp.

Daryl paused by the trees and looked back at her, nodding his head towards camp. Isabella drew a deep breath and exited the car, running quickly to Daryl's side, as he burst into the chaotic clearing.

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Isabella built a small fire away from the centre of camp, and set out logs for the surviving members to sit and calm down before attempting to get some sleep. Rick nodded in thanks to her as he guided a tall dark haired woman and a young boy to sit beside the yellow flames, both of them were shaking and accepted the cups of sweet tea she had managed to make from the supplies in the boot of her car, the tea had been her grandmother's _but,_ she thought _these people could do with it more right now._

An older woman with cropped grey hair and a small, tearful, blond girl were the next people to sit at the fire and accept the mugs of tea. A Hispanic family soon joined them, closely followed by an old man in a Hawaiian shirt and a bucket hat, a man in overalls, and a beautiful black lady who accepted her tea with a kind smile. Finally the four men who had found her that day took their seats, and beckoned her to sit with them. She smiled sweetly and obliged, squeezing herself between Daryl and T-Dog. She watched warily as one final person joined their group, a tall muscled man with curly dark hair and a scowl on his face.

"I just want to tell y'all that I'm sorry, for leaving and letting this tragedy happen." Rick began his head in his hands. "Its a painful and terrible shame. I'm sure you are all in shock, but we need to think about if this place is safe any more."

The young boy next to Rick tugged on his shirt sleeve, getting the policeman's attention. "Dad, I have a question." he paused for a minute and looked up at Isabella, "Who's she?"

"This" Rick said gesturing gently towards the dark haired new comer "is Isabella. We found her while we were searching for Merle and the guns." The young boy nodded and went back to leaning quietly against his mother.

"Isabella I'd like you to meet my wife Lori and my son Carl." he said indicating the woman and the young boy, "Carol and her daughter Sophia" The tearful older woman attempted a smile in her direction, and Sophia wiggled her fingers in a wave."Dale, Jim and Jacqui" each one nodded their heads in greeting, "the Morales family" who, again, just quietly nodded, "and Shane, my best friend" The last man to join them nodded, his intense dark stare never leaving her pretty face. "And of course you know the four of us."

Isabella nodded, taking a deep breath In and trying to not be over whelmed, "Hello, I'm Isabella Grey, but uh, please, Call me Bella" silence fell once again over the saddened huddle, as people started to disperse back to their tents, leaving Bella alone with her thoughts.

Dale was about to reach the RV when he turned back to the glowing fireside, seeing the pretty dark haired girl still sat on her log, her plump lips turned down into a sad frown and she shivered slightly in the cold nights breeze. Shaking his head he made his way back towards her.

"I take it you don't have a place to sleep tonight?" He asked, crouching down to her level,

"Well no, not really, I have my car, I can sleep I there."

The old man shook his head and chuckled holding his hand out to help her up as he stood. "Nonsense, you can sleep in the RV. I'm on night watch today anyway, and I'm sure Carol and Sophia won't mind sharing."

"Are you sure you don't mind?" she asked following him over the brow of the hill back into the main part of camp, trying her best to hide her eyes from the carnage that lay around them.

"I'm sure, now go get yourself some sleep Missy. Tomorrow will be a big day."

She smiled at his father like kindness and started to enter the ancient caravan, when a light sobbing caught her attention. In her attempt to avoid the bloodshed and bodies she had completely missed the blond woman hunched over a body below the window of the RV. Sensing the woman wanted to be left alone she hurried into the mobile home and shut the door behind her.

Sitting on the edge of the bed opposite Carol and Sophia, Isabella removed her glasses and pulled the band from her hair, letting her dark curls spill down her back.

"Thank you for the tea." came a soft voice from across the small room, and Isabella smiled gently at Carol.

"Its all I could do."

The older woman nodded and turned onto her back. "I think it helped." she paused for a few seconds. "Goodnight Bella"

Isabella smiled and laid on her side, her dainty hands buried beneath the thin pillow, and her knees brought up to her chest. "Goodnight Carol, Sophia" she answered dozily as sleep washed over her tired body.


	4. No hard Feelings?

**Hello to all my lovely readers! 2 in 2 days! woop and worked so hard on this chapter, im incredibly proud of it, so please, feedback, even a little bit helps! I just like to know what you all think ... Thank you for reading! xx**

Isabella stretched out on the thin mattress in the RV, the hot Atlanta sun spilling through the flimsy curtains and warming her cheeks. Twittering birds and the mumbling of human voices from outside the caravan floated into her ears, making her scrunch her face up, her body reluctant to wake up. Grumbling, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and stretched her arms above her head. Her eyes fell on her rucksack, that was sat on the table, a note was folded on top of it neatly.

_Bella, I got Daryl to grab this out of your car, thought you might need it. Carol x_

She smiled sweetly and folded the note up, zipping it into the front pocket of her bag._ Right, time to get up_ she thought, pulling a clean top and shorts from her bag.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

Daryl groaned as he bent to grab the torn up arm of another body with Morales, heaving the corpse across the dusty floor towards the large bonfire that already held a stack of burning walkers. Throwing their cargo onto the fire, Daryl stepped back and grabbed a red rag from his back pocket and wiped it across his face, clearing it of ash and sweat. He glanced towards the RV, where Andrea was still crouched over her dead sister, her face, hair and clothes covered in blood, as he joined Lori, Rick, Carol, Dale and Shane sat around the camp-fire centre.

"We can't just leave Amy like that. It ain't right man." Shane grumbled watching the sisters around Daryl's leg.

The blond red neck folded his arms across his chest watching the area around the RV with narrowed eyes, and a scowl across his lips. His eyes strayed across to the doorway of the RV as Isabella appeared in the opening, yawning and stretching her arms high above her head, her t-shirt sliding up and exposing her flat tummy. Her curly, dark hair hair was loose and flowing around her shoulders. She looked towards Andrea uncomfortably as she hurried passed her to join him and the group in the centre.

"Good Morning, Bella, sleep well?" Dale asked, as he ladled some freshly boiled water into a cup for her, which she gladly accepted, sipping from the cup.

"Yeah, better than I remember for a long time" she laughed with a smile, she looked up and caught Daryl's gaze with hers. "And thank you both for grabbing my bag. It feels much better to be in clean clothes." she said directing it at both him and Carol.

"Its no problem sweetie, you look much better this morning" Carol complimented as she went back to peeling potatoes. Daryl just nodded at her and looked back at his dusty boots.

"I'll try to get her to see how it is." Rick said solemnly, making his way towards the sisters, the group behind him watching his every move.

Isabella's eyebrows rose when the blond woman aimed the gun at Rick and he began to back away, whispering to her that he was sorry. She turned to the rest of the group with an unsure expression plastered on her pretty face.

"That," Dale started with a sigh, "is Andrea and Amy. Amy was bitten in the attack last night."

She nodded and turned back to face Daryl, Shane and Rick who were mumbling together.

"Y'all can't be serious! Gonna let that girl hamstring us?" Daryl asked, as he swung a pick axe up onto his muscle-bound shoulder. "The dead girl's a time bomb."

Rick looked at the floor quickly before looking back up at the red neck "And what do you suggest?"

"Take the shot, from here, clean in the brain. Hell I can hit a turkey between the eyes from this distance." he said motioning towards the dead girl, but his eyes never leaving the blood stained face of the cop.

Isabella's eyebrows crinkled at his harsh words and she rounded on him, her big brown eyes hard with emotion, "No, for god sake let the poor girl be. Let her mourn." she said, being careful not to alert the grieving sister.

Daryl stared down at her with a hard look on his face, his blue eyes alive with determination, "So what? The lil bitch can come back and get us? Is that it?" he asked her, stepping forward so their bodies were mere inches apart. Bella licked her lips and swallowed heavily at the proximity between them, she had thought he was attractive when she found them on the rooftop, the sun silhouetting his muscled form perfectly, but now she was close enough to see all the imperfections of his handsome face, feel the heat radiating off his body and take in the scent of woodland mixed with a hint of masculine sweat that seemed to emanate from his every pore. His chipped ice blue eyes stared into hers as she scolded herself for getting side tracked by his looks.

"No, She will deal with it when it happens. There are far more important things to be done around here. Like shifting the rest of these bodies."

Daryl just let his eyes flick up and down her petite body, before turning away to another walker, bringing the sharp tip of the axe through it skull with a manly grunt.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

Isabella was anxious to feel like part of the group and chipped in quickly with moving the bodies from the camp grounds with Lori. Daryl leaned back on the handle of his pick axe and drained the bottle of water Dale handed him, grateful for the cool liquid in the insufferable heat. He watched her and Lori lift a mangled corpse between them, her tiny hands wrapped so tightly around the walker's wrist that her knuckles turned an odd shade of white. Her chocolatey brown curls were still loose and blowing in the wind, a few strands sticking to her pretty face with sweat. As if sensing his eyes on her, she looked up at him, her big brown eyes looking wide and innocent behind her glasses, a ghost of a smile found its way onto her lips before she turned back to the body in her hand, a light pink blush flowing up her cheeks.

Daryl smirked to himself as he slapped Morales on the shoulder mumbling "C'mon man, we've got a job to do."

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"Our people go in that row over there!"

"If they're dead they're infected"

"We don't burn them! They go in that row over there!" cried a hysterical Glenn as he fought with Daryl.

Isabella looked up from the seat she was sharing with Carol, and excused herself, quickly jogging over to the fighting men. She stood between them and shook her head, her hair blowing into her face with the movement.

"Daryl, Glenn's right, these were your people, they deserve a proper burial."

The red neck looked at her and narrowed his eyes a moment taking in the determination in her pretty eyes and the hard line her plump lips had set themselves into, but said nothing as he dragged the body away to the other pile with Morales.

"Certainly got a mouth on her." Shane mumbled to Daryl as he dropped a body down beside him. Daryl looked at the dark haired cop, who's eyes were fixed on Isabella as she sat back next to Carol, grabbing a potato to peel from the pot. Daryl grunted, not really wanting to have a conversation with Shane about it.

"Sexy though, not too fat, not too thin, great ass and rack on her too." Daryl grunted again and walked away to sit in front of his tent, grabbing his trusty crossbow and a cloth. He had thought the same about the tiny brunette several times that day, and he didn't want to think about Shane thinking the same thing. He glanced up from his crossbow and watched her as she dunked her hand into the pot of water and splashed a giggling Carl and Sophia who were sat by her feet, she too was laughing her lips curled up with the endearing expression and her eyes shining with mirth.

"A walker got him! A walker bit Jim" Cried Jacqui as she backed away from the weakened mechanic. Every member of the camp looked up at the commotion, jumping to their feet and surrounding the bitten man.

"Show it to us. Show it to us." Daryl demanded as he circled with the other men of the group, the pick axe once again over his shoulder.

Jim defensively grabbed a spade from the ground and wielded it around as his protection. Isabella grimaced and stood back away from the men, deciding to only step in if someone was going to be unnecessarily hurt. T-Dog seized a moment and grabbed the older man by the back of the arms, holding him still while Daryl pulled his t-shirt up, exposing the angry red bite on Jim's stomach.

"I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok" whispered Jim as he gave up struggling against the stronger men.

T-Dog and Daryl let go of him quickly and backed away to the rest of the group, leaving Jim on show to the rest of the camp, like an animal at the circus. The group stood and watched him sway in the heat for a few minutes before Isabella couldn't take seeing it any more,

"For Fuck sake people, he's not an animal at the zoo. Don't just stand and stare at him. How would you lot fucking like it?" She said loud enough for all of the group to hear as she pushed past Shane and Rick, making her way to the older man and wrapping his arm around her shoulder, and helping him to walk to a chair, just under the shade of the RV.

"Here, maybe some shade will do you some good, ok? I'll get you some water." She said, touching his shoulder caringly and walking through the open mouthed group to get the dying man a cup of water.

"Is she fucking crazy?" Shane said turning to Rick, eyebrows raised.

"No," Dale said with a small smile, "She's being human, she's being kind."

"Still infected" Grumbled Daryl as he watched her crouch down in front of Jim's chair and pass him the water, chatting away to him with a sweet smile as he grimaced through the pain,

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

"A writer huh?" asked Jim weakly, coughing as he sipped another mouthful of water.

Isabella nodded and adjusted so she was sitting cross legged at the man's feet,

"Mhmm a bit of everything. Scripts, poems, I'm known for my novels though." she said shuffling her trainer covered feet in the dirt, her knee length grey socks covered in yellowish clay dust _that's going to take forever to come out_ she thought as she played with the tops of the garment.

"Really? Anything I'd have read?" He asked running a wrist over his sweaty face.

She giggled and smiled up at him softly, "Na, probably not, I write a lot of horror and romance novels, sometimes a mix of the two."

Jim chuckled, "bet you could write a fine one about this."

She nodded, "I could write a good horror about it, but who would be left to read it."

"I was more thinking" Jim coughed a little "A mixture of the two, I take it you've seen the way Daryl and Shane look at you, even Glenn. But I suppose you're right."

Silence fell between the pair as Isabella took in Jim's words _"I take it you've seen the way Daryl and Shane look at you, even Glenn."_ She had noticed, Shane looked at her like she was a piece of meat and it really got to her, she had always hated that in a man. But Daryl, Daryl was different, he had the decency to make her feel like a person, not like a rabbit in a lion's cage. A blush rose to her cheeks as she thought about it.

TWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWDTWD

"The line's pretty clear, zero tolerance for walkers, or the to be" Daryl growled clenching his fist around the handle of the pick axe.

"What if we can get him help? I heard the CDC was working on a cure." Rick said trying to reason with the group.

"Heard that too, heard a lot of things before the world went to hell."

"What if the CDC is still up and running?"

"Man, that is a stretch right there"

"Why? If there's any government left, any structure, they'd protect the CDC at all costs wouldn't they? I think its our best shot. Water, shelter, protection ..."

"You want those things and I do too ok, and if they exist they're at the army base, at Fort Benning"

"That's 100 mines in the opposite direction." chipped in Lori between the two cops.

"Thats right" agreed Shane, "But its away from the hot zone, if its operational it'll be heavily armed and we'll be safe there."

"The military" cut in Rick "were on the front lines of this thing, they got over run, we've all seen that. The CDC's our best choice and Jim's only hope."

Daryl turned to stare over his shoulder, watching Jim and Isabella, the wounded man caught his eyes over the top of the young woman's head. He turned back to the group, adjusting his grip on the handle of the pick axe once again.

"You go lookin for asprin, do what you need to do, I'm gonna sort this out once and for all" The red neck said breaking into a run towards Jim, the axe held high in the air ready to strike the man's skull, but just as he swung the weapon, a small hand caught hold of the wooden pole, tearing it from his grip and threw it aside.

Isabella, grabbed Daryl by the throat, her long fingernails digging into his Adam's apple,

"Get off me! Bitch! Get off" he shouted pushing at the hand that held him lightly, and looking into her angry eyes that had turned a stormy almost black.

"We don't kill the living. Do you hear me?" she asked he voice low and threatening. He didn't answer, just struggled against her grip. "Do. You. Hear. Me. Dixon?" she repeated slower.

He nodded and breathed a sigh of relief when she let him go, pushing him away from her and back to the group.

"Come with me sweetie." she said kindly to Jim as she offered him a hand up, as Rick appeared at her side, taking Jim's shoulder and helping him walk.

"Where are you taking me?" he croaked, as they walked towards the RV,

"Somewhere safe where you'll be more comfortable." she said as she followed the men into the RV, stopping in the doorway and turning back to Daryl who was sat on a log watching her from under his eyelashes, and running his hand over the cuts in his throat. He nodded at her _no hard feelings?_

She smiled and nodded back before going into the caravan's belly, _no hard feelings._


End file.
